If there were any lingering concerns about Trevon Brazile coming back from a torn ACL, he quickly silenced them in the Arkansas basketball season opener Monday night.
The big man threw down multiple highlight-reel dunks in the first few minutes of the Arkansas vs Alcorn State game. It’s an encouraging sign, especially when you consider he “waited” three games before doing this last year.
Follow along below for updates from the game, including video of two of those plays…
(READ NEXT: Full preview of Arkansas’s season opener)
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15:48, 1H: Arkansas 10, Alcorn State 4
Brazile won the opening tip and opened the scoring for the season with a drive to the basket and thunderous one-handed slam.
As you might expect, Arkansas forced a turnover on its first defensive possession of the season. The Hogs are off and running.
After a few not-so-pretty possessions, Brazile came down with a tough defensive rebound, pushed the ball ahead and it eventually ended up in Lawson’s hands, who was fouled while trying to dunk over an Alcorn State defender.
Makhi Mitchell is the first Arkansas basketball player off the bench. He checked in for Lawson, who dribbled the ball off his foot a couple of times.
The Razorbacks missed their first two 3-pointers on back-to-back shots, but grabbed the offensive rebound each time and eventually got a driving layup by Mark out of it.
Alcorn State’s second turnover of the night led to an easy fast break layup by Davis, pushing the lead to 10-4. A defensive foul on Mitchell sends us to the first media timeout.
11:58, 1H: Arkansas 19, Alcorn State 10
Davis turned down an open look from the corner, but some excellent ball movement resulted in Brazile getting an easy dunk in the closing seconds of the shot clock.
The first 3 of the night for Arkansas comes from Mark. Ellis made a great move to get by his defender on a drive from the top of the key, kicked it out to Davis in the corner who whipped it over to Mark on the wing.
Jalen Graham, Khalif Battle, Jeremiah Davenport and Layden Blocker check in at the 13:46 mark. The only starter still on the floor is Brazile.
Alcorn State has made its last four shots.
Oh my, Brazile just posterized Alcorn State’s Trevon Stoutermire, who stands 6-foot-8, 200 pounds. That one will end up on SportsCenter.
The 3s aren’t really falling early on, but Arkansas is getting some great looks. Graham just had a great kick out to Davenport in the corner, but he didn’t fall.
At the U12 media timeout, Brazile leads the way with 6 points and 3 rebounds.
10:34, 1H: Arkansas 23, Alcorn State 10
Battle knocked down a corner 3 out of an in-bounds play, but it was waved off because his foot was out of bounds.
Layden Blocker has picked up two quick fouls.
Oh my, Layden Blocker just threw a perfect alley oop to Battle, who threw it down over Stoutermire. He drew a foul on the play, as well. Alcorn State has called a timeout. It’s been an 8-0 run for Arkansas over the last three minutes or so. Alcorn has missed its last four shots.
7:46, 1H: Arkansas 27, Alcorn State 13
Baye Fall has checked into the game. He was fouled going up for a shot the first time he touched the ball.
Jalen Graham is not afraid to take the ball up the floor himself after grabbing a rebound.
A missed 3 by Davis makes Arkansas 1 of 5 from deep. Luckily for the Razorbacks, they’ve forced four turnovers and are out-rebounding Alcorn State 12-5 at this point.
Make that 1 of 6 after a Mark attempt grazed the rim. On the other end, Davenport blocked a shot down low.
Battle gets one to fall in the corner, though. That stretches the lead to 14.
3:18, 1H: Arkansas 40, Alcorn State 20
Fall hit the floor hard when an Alcorn State undercut him as he went up for a rebound, but he seems to be okay because he stayed in the game to take the free throws. He went 1 of 2 from the line. He hasn’t played great, but he’s been very active. He blocked a shot on defense and grabbed an offensive rebound. However, he also turned it over twice.
Battle really likes the right corner. He made one earlier that was waved off, but has made 2 that counted since. He finally did miss, but this one was from the left wing.
Brazile is dominating the boards. He’s got 5 rebounds already with a little over 5 minutes left in the half. If he plays enough, he’s well on his way to a double-double.
Denijay Harris has checked in, meaning all 13 scholarship players have entered the game.
He’s already got plenty of dunks, but Brazile burried a three from the right wing to add to his resume. He’s yet to miss a shot tonight. He’s up to 9 points and 5 rebounds in 11 minutes.
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For a full recap of Arkansas vs Alcorn State, go here:
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HALF – Arkansas 46, Alcorn State 22
Mark is starting to heat up from deep. He’s made back-to-back 3s and suddenly has 13 points to go along with 2 assists.
A beautiful feed from Davis leads to an easy dunk for Graham.
Arkansas held for the final shot, but Ellis ended up turning it over with a couple seconds left.
14:39, 2H: Arkansas 61, Alcorn State 35
The first points of the half come on a pair of Brazile three throws, putting him in double figures.
After being a bit hesitant in the first half, Davis pulled up the first time he got a look in the second half and drilled the corner 3.
Alcorn State dialed up the fullcourt press, but Arkansas beat it. However, it ended up turning the ball over underneath its basket.
Three minutes into the second half, Arkansas has officially taken only one shot. It made that shot and is 4 of 4 at the charity stripe, but it has turned it over three times.
Arkansas moved it around pretty nicely on its next possession and it resulted in a 3 by Mark late in the shot clock. He’s up to 16 points and is now 4 of 6 from deep.
Ellis gets in on the fun with a deep 3 with a hand in his face. Suddenly, the Hogs are 9 of 18 from deep after starting 1 of 6.
An airball by Alcorn State sends us to the U16 media timeout.
11:40, 2H: Arkansas 68, Alcorn State 39
Battle is feeling it. After a really nice reverse layup, he drained a deep 3 on the Hogs’ next trip. That gives him a team-high 17 points.
Graham missed his initial attempt at the rim after grabbing an offensive board, but managed to tip it back in. He’s got 6 points and 5 rebounds.
Arkansas continues to dominate the boards. It is out-rebounding Alcorn State 28-14 and has more offensive rebounds (11) than Alcorn has defensive rebounds (9).
7:28, 2H: Arkansas 74, Alcorn State 41
Willie Anderson Jr. just committed a very dirty foul on Battle as he drove to the basket. He essentially got him in a headlock and didn’t let go. After a review, he was assessed a Flagrant 1. After seeing the replay, it didn’t seem quite as bad as it looked live. Trevon Brazile was ejected for leaving the bench on the play.
Graham has been rebounding the ball tonight. He’s got a team-high 7 after that tough board.
Battle drew an offensive foul by Alcorn State and got knocked down to the floor. He got a nice cheer when he did three pushups before getting up. He’s played some good defense tonight, it seems like, to go with his team-high 21 points.
Blocker has had a bit of trouble bringing the ball up against the press, but he got threw it, tossed ahead to Harris who then threw an alley oop to Graham.
3:58, 2H: Arkansas 84, Alcorn State 54
Pinion’s first points of the season come at the free throw line. He knocked down a pair out of the media timeout.
Blocker plays with great energy, even if it’s not always 100% under control.
Davenport has been cold all day. He’s not 0 for 5 from deep after missing an open look from the corner.
Baye Fall’s first bucket comes on a lob from Harris, who now has two assists that way.
Musselman just received a technical. He is very upset about something. It came with 4:51 left and in a 28-point game. That’s his 15th technical with the Razorbacks.
Davenport finally got a 3 to fall with about 4:30 remaining after missing his first five attempts.
FINAL – Arkansas 93, Alcorn State 59
Harris tried dunking over Willie Anderson Jr., but he was fouled hard instead. He made both free throws to give him 5 points with his 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
Pinion just tried throwing down a fast break alley oop, but was also fouled. The Hogs are trying to reward the fans who’ve stuck around. It was Anderson again on the foul. He gets another Flagrant 1 on the play.
Walk-on Cade Arbogast checks in with about 2 minutes remaining.
Pinion finally makes a 3. It’s the 12th of the game for Arkansas – more than it had in any game last season.
Walk-on Lawson Blake checks in for the final minute. He got fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws.
With 45 seconds left, an Alcorn State player went 0 for 2 at the free throw line, winning everyone a free brownie from Jimmy John’s.
FINAL STATS – Arkansas vs Alcorn State
FIRST HALF STATS
How to Watch Arkansas vs Alcorn State
Date: Monday, Nov. 6
Location: Bud Walton Arena (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Tipoff Time/TV Schedule: 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
ESPN BPI: Arkansas has a 97.4% chance to win, favored by 23.6
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